Pretty News: HEADED FOR MIXED OPEN

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

HEADED FOR MIXED OPEN

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- U.S. stocks were poised for a mixed open Wednesday, as investors tried to make sense of a mixed bag of company earnings and awaited the latest inflation data.

S&P 500 (SPX) and Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) futures were up, while Nasdaq (COMP) futures fell ahead of the opening bell. Stock futures indicate the possible direction of the markets when they open at 9:30 a.m. ET.

On Tuesday, stocks surged into the close, following a report suggesting that Europe's bailout fund may get a big boost.

The gains pushed the Nasdaq in positive territory for 2011, while the Dow is at breakeven. The S&P 500 remains in the red, but the broad index finished at its highest level since Aug. 3.

Investors have been focused on fears about Europe's debt crisis, but third-quarter corporate results have stolen some of that spotlight. While big banks are continuing to show some struggles, tech leaders have posted solid revenue increases.

"Everybody has been focused on whether the U.S. economy and global economy are headed for a double dip recession, and I think it's clearly evident based on the numbers that we're seeing that that's hogwash," said Derek Hoffman, co-founder and CEO of WallStCheatSheet.com, pointing to sales increases at Apple and Intel announced Tuesday.

Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) stock is in focus, after the maker of Macs and iPhones announced late Tuesday it saw a 39% increase in third quarter sales to $28.3 billion. Even though Apple set new sales and profit records during the quarter, its shares were down 5% in premarket trading because Wall Street analysts were expecting an even stronger performance.

Meanwhile, Dow component Intel (INTC, Fortune 500) shined late Tuesday when it announced earnings that beat analysts' estimates and sales that hit a new high. Intel stock was up 4% in premarket trading.

Economy: The government will release its Consumer Price Index, a key measure of inflation, before the opening bell. The latest reading is expected to have increased by 0.3% in September, after edging up 0.4% the previous month, according to a consensus of analysts surveyed by Briefing.com.

Core CPI, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, is expected to have risen 0.2% during the month, the same as in August.

Data on housing starts and building permits will also be released before the opening bell. Analysts surveyed by Briefing.com expect a slight increase in housing starts, and a slight decrease in building permits.

In the afternoon, the Federal Reserve will release its latest Beige Book report on the state of the economy in the nation's regions.

On Tuesday, Moody's Investors Service downgraded Spain's government bond ratings to A1 from Aa2. This follows similar action taken by Standard & Poor's last week.

Companies: Dow components United Technologies (UTX, Fortune 500) and Travelers Companies (TRV, Fortune 500), and financial services companies Morgan Stanley (MS, Fortune 500) and BlackRock (BLK, Fortune 500) were announcing their third-quarter results before the opening Wednesday. American Express (AXP, Fortune 500) and eBay (EBAY, Fortune 500) will announce quarterly earnings after the markets close.

After the closing bell on Tuesday, Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500) said sales and earnings in the third quarter fell compared to last year, but came in ahead of analyst forecasts.

World markets: European stocks climbed in midday trading. Britain's FTSE 100 (UKX) rose 1.2%, the DAX (DAX) in Germany gained 1.5% and France's CAC 40 (CAC40) added 1.3%.

Asian markets ended mixed. The Shanghai Composite (SHCOMP) slipped 0.3%, while the Hang Seng (HSI) in Hong Kong rose 1.3% and Japan's Nikkei (N225) ticked up 0.4%.

Currencies and commodities: The dollar fell against the euro, the Japanese yen and the British pound.

Oil for November delivery gained 41 cents to $88.75 a barrel.

Gold futures for December delivery rose $3.50 to $1,656.30 an ounce.

Bonds: The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury fell, pushing the yield up to 2.22% from 2.15% late Tuesday. �